Lost Memories
Stepping onto the elevator at the Metro Court, Sam was concentrating on her phone to send a quick text to Patrick that 'she was on her way'. Giving just a moment to quickly glance at the dials to punch in the floor for the restaurant, she looked back down to her phone, stepped back up against the elevator wall and hit send with a small smile on her face, recalling Patrick's earlier comment on her tardiness.
It was a week after New Year's and they were meeting up for lunch, both taking a break from their jobs. They had planned an official date for the next day and today was a spur of the moment type of deal. He needed a break from saving lives and she needed a break from trying to figure out who Jake really was. Since they hit a block at the PCPD with his fingerprints, Sam decided to employ her old acquaintance and somewhat friend, Agent Winifred with the FBI. Just before leaving the office, Sam had called Spinelli and asked him to hack into the PCPD files and send the file that they had on Jake including the fingerprints to Winifred. While waiting anxiously for that call, she used Spinelli's program and pulled up various cameras around the PCPD to track the van that the gunman had stolen with Faison inside. The last she saw, the van was heading to the docks, now she just needed to go down there and investigate. This was the part she loved about her job, the field work, the part where you got your hands dirty. Just like Jason.
Taking a deep breath to clear the mist that suddenly formed in her eyes by the reminder of her late husband, Sam looked up as a muscled arm was forced between the elevator doors to keep them from closing. When the doors opened to reveal the person behind them, Sam couldn't help but to roll her eyes. Jake. Jake with that stupid grin on his face. If she didn't have to get up to the restaurant to meet Patrick like 10 minutes ago, she would've just taken the stairs. Instead, she told him. "You know, you're guard dog was at my house telling me to stay away from you or she'll file harassment charges against me." She took some pleasure in seeing his grin fade. Apparently he didn't like girls fighting his battles for him. "I'm thinking it's the other way around because for some reason you can't stay away from me. Seems you just like to piss off. Am I right?"
Jake looked at the petite brunet in front of him. For some reason, she confused the hell out of him. She was right, he couldn't stay away from her. There was just something about her, it's when a word is right on the tip of your tongue and you just couldn't remember what it was. It drove him crazy. She's beautiful and strong, independent, and has one hell of a body that has him panting like a bitch in heat. He can't take his eyes off of her whenever he sees her and for some reason her attitude turns him on. When he saw her sitting at the Metro Court, he couldn't help but to go to her, there was something that was pulling him to her, even now he could feel it while she stares at him with fire in her gorgeous brown eyes. He sat with her that day, they were joking and flirting and just having a good time, when suddenly it all changed and for some reason Jake felt the loss like a punch to the gut. She's accusing him of being the gunman that helped the man that shot her husband get free. The only problem was, Jake couldn't remember. He told Patrick about having blackouts, maybe there was something more wrong with his brain or maybe he was just repeating what Sam told him. But deep down, Jake feared that she was right. "No Sam, I don't like to piss you off, but I have to admit that it's quite entertaining and… sexy." He responded with a grin. His grin died when he recalled what she said before that. Because it pissed him off. "And I'm sorry Elizabeth was there, she shouldn't have bothered you with it. She doesn't need to defend me."
Shaking her head, Sam couldn't help but to roll her eyes again and scoff. A force of habit when she was around him. "It's really pathetic. She not only defends you, but she feeds and clothes you. You're her own personal Ken doll." Sam was getting so much satisfaction at seeing his jaw clench. No man, if he was a man, wants or needs someone to take care of them, especially if he was capable. She let a little evil smile show when she finished. "Tell me Jake, does Elizabeth wash your balls too or are they hung up for mistletoe?"
Damn her, damn her and her words. But she was right. He was so sick and tired of being taken care of. He appreciated all that Elizabeth had done for him in the beginning but that completely changed for him when she started buying him clothes. He hated it and he hated that he couldn't remember. He didn't want anyone taking care of him. So he worked small odd jobs here and there, anything to get by. And for a moment under that mistletoe, it felt good to be needed, to be wanted. In the end, he was glad that kiss never happened with Elizabeth. He told her the same, packed his bags and left. Now he was staying here and working for Carly. Just as he was about to respond, the elevator suddenly came to a halt. That was why Carly had called him up to fix in the first place. Apparently he didn't do a good job. "Shit." He walked to the control panel to call maintenance and chuckled to himself when he heard Sam curse behind him. She had quite a mouth on her. He could honestly say that it was such a turn on. After speaking to the person on the other end of the phone, he turned back to her. "There was problem in engineering and their working on it. We'll be out of here soon."
"Ugghhh, not fast enough." Now she was more pissed and she had the perfect target standing in front of her.
Focusing on her, Jake had to unclench his teeth, but not without difficulty remembering what she had said before the elevator stopped moving. "And, I don't need anyone taking care of me." As she scoffed, it grated on his nerves more. "I live and work here now."
"So in other words, you found someone else to con with your whole poor me act." She still couldn't believe that Carly hired him and now he's living here.
"I'm not acting or conning anyone. I woke up not remembering who I was and Dr. Obercht was going to kick me out of the hospital. I had no money, no identification, no insurance and Elizabeth was there to help me out." He would always be grateful to her for taking him in, but it was time for him to move on.
"Yeah, help you out, sure, by taking a stranger into her home with her two small defenseless children. You're right, sooooo helpful and soooo smart, mother of year. You guys were great, just acting like the perfect little family at Thanksgiving. So pathetic and disgusting seeing the way you too were all happy and bubbly and…."
"Careful, sounds like you were jealous."
"Jealous?" Sam laughed that one off. "Jealous? Seriously? It was sick Jake. How can you do that? How can you sit there and pretend to be a family with her and her two boys, NOT remembering that you may have a family of your own out there? Maybe you already have a wife and a kid. Maybe there's some poor woman out there who thinks that her husband is dead or some kid who thinks their father is gone and never coming back. So while you were spending Thanksgiving shacked up in some other woman's house eating her turkey and laughing it up, your real family is missing their first Thanksgiving with their husband or father because they think he's DEAD." She had to pause and look away for a moment to breathe and clear her watery eyes, what she said was really hitting close to home. When she could catch a breath, she looked back at him. She saw it then, the anger sliding out of his eyes, being replaced by sorrow, but she wouldn't feel sorry for him. "And maybe this whole memory loss is all a scam."
With those words, Jake found it hard to breathe. They were so close to what Ric had said to him before he moved out. Maybe he did have family out there. And Sam was right, while he was eating, laughing, and having a good time, someone might be missing him. "It's not a scam Sam, I don't remember anything."
"Really? You sure as hell don't act like it."
Confused, Jake asked. "What do you mean?"
"Come on Jake. You're pretty comfortable with the way your life is right now. A new place to live, a new job, new clothes. What more could you want? I would think someone suffering from memory loss would do whatever he could to find out who he was. Move Heaven and earth to get to the life they had and their family. Yet…" She waved her hand in his direction. "Here you are, not doing a damn thing to make that happen."
"No." Jake took a step closer to her. "I want to remember, I want to know who I am and where I come from. They ran my prints at the PCPD and got nothing…"
"So that's it. You stop. Dante couldn't find anything and you're done. What about newspapers? Missing person's reports. You tried one thing, hit a road block and gave up. Hell Jake, it seems to me you don't want your memories back and Elizabeth sure as hell isn't helping."
"She tried, she was talking to the cops."
"Right, she talked to Dante, but there are other roads. She knows I'm a P.I., this is what I do, I investigate, I find things, I get answers and I don't give up easily. Should make you wonder why she never thought to ask for my help or another P.I.'s help for that matter."
Shaking his head, Jake didn't like what she was saying. They were true, he just didn't like hearing that he gave up easily. He was sure that his memories would just come to him, especially when he remembered seeing Elizabeth in a memory when he first woke up. "She tried to help. If anything, I'm the one holding back."
"Exactly!" She pointed at him. "Why give up so easily? Why stop? Maybe because I was right, there is nothing to find out. That you don't really have memory loss and all this is bullshit so that you can situate yourself with the town's gossip queen and find out what you can about Port Charles' residents."
"To what end?"
"To free Faison."
Throwing his hands up Jake couldn't believe she was back to that again. Granted he was having some blackouts but there was no way he would do that. Why would he do that? "I told you, I had nothing to do with that. And you don't have any evidence it was me. I mean come on Sam, one minute we were laughing and having a good time at dinner and the next you're at my throat. We had fun didn't we?" When she didn't respond but continued to glare, Jake kept going. "Look, I thought we were getting along, you know, getting to know each other, you, me, Patrick and Danny…"
Sam cut him off and snapped. "Do NOT say my son's name?" She was furious with him, with herself included for allowing Jake to be around her precious son. "I know it was you, I know you were the gunman, so don't talk about MY son while you held his mother hostage."
"Sam…" Jake slowing raised his hands to calm her down. She was over protective of her son and he couldn't blame her.
"You stay the hell away from my son or I will kill you."
He froze then, those words shot through his skull and were ricocheting around his brain. Something about those words, the heat behind them, the fire in her eyes, an image flashed. Almost as if he was looking in a mirror. A flashback.
I will kill you. He could see her, Sam, in front him, pissed and crying. His chest burned because he never wanted to see her like that again. Looking at him with such hate. Fire in her eyes and pain in the voice he could suddenly hear. "I loved you, I was shot because of you, I can't have children because of you." They were at her home, he had broken in. "I will kill you". Words he said without meaning to, he was just too hurt. She hurt him because of his despicable actions and he wanted to hurt her back.As quickly as it came, the flashback ended. He refocused to see her looking up at him with confusion.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" When he didn't answer, but instead closed his eyes, she asked. "Did you hear what I said?"
He didn't know how to answer her first question because he truthfully didn't know. This was the first memory he had since the ones when he first woke up. Could they be coming back? Why was he remembering her? What was happening to him? So he opened his eyes and answered the second. "Yeah, yeah I heard you."
Not understanding what happened, she let it go and threatened. "You may have fooled Elizabeth and Carly, you may have fooled all of Port Charles, but not me." She took a step closer to get her point across, avoiding the confusion in his eyes. "I know you it was you. I know you helped send my husband's killer free. And I'm going to prove it even if it's the last thing I do."
It was his turn to reply. He wanted to defend himself, to wish her good luck because there was no proof. But that's not what came out of his mouth and he had no idea where it came from. "Who do you think you are… Mighty Mouse."
Taken back, Sam's eyes widened in shock. "What did you call me?" She felt that pang in her heart at remembering what Jason called her when she was going to break him out of Pentonville.
Jake had no idea what to say. Actually, he couldn't talk because his breath hitched as another memory came at him.
He was at her place, and she was sitting on his lap on the couch. His arms around her. He would swipe her silky hair off her eyes whenever he got the chance. He could see and hear this more clearly. "I want you to know, that I love you… so much." "And I love you so much more." "Are you planning a jail break?" "I wasn't going to spend the next 10 years of my life not seeing you. "Oh, shut up."
Who do you think you are… Mighty Mouse?"
"Jake?"
The memory ended after they kissed. He told her that he loved her. This woman before him was someone that he loved. Jake didn't know what to think. Was it possible that he was Jason Morgan? Her husband? Shaking his head, he tried to clear his thoughts. "What did you say?"
Sam was starting to get worried, she could see the pain and confusion in his eyes and she was starting to feel sorry for him. Which just pissed her off even more. "You know what? Let's just forget this happened." Stepping back to put some distance between them, mumbling, "I should've just told Patrick to meet me at the penthouse for Chinese." She leaned up against the wall and looked down at her phone in her hand. She sighed realizing she missed a few texts from Patrick. As she was responding to him, Sam missed the Jake's reaction to her words.
He stepped back, practically stumbled as if he was hit with a wrecking ball. Her words striking not only his brain but stabbed at his heart. Penthouse. Chinese. He took a deep breath and waited for the memories that washed over him. So clear, it was as if was there.
They were standing outside a Chinese restaurant they found when they took a ride on his motorcycle the day before the wedding. It was just the two of them, the owners of the restaurant and their grandson that officiated. He was sliding his grandmother's ring on her finger. "This is my grandmother's ring. She wore it for over fifty years. Through it all they loved each other. My grandfather gave it me, to give to you." "You're mother gave me this ring and it was your father's. And she said that he would want you to have it and their love lasted a lifetime and so will ours." After their vows were said, he remembered drinking the wine and the official finished with. From this moment forward, you are one world, earth, water, air, and fire together, for all eternity. I now pronounce you husband and wife. And before kissing his wife, he swept her hair from her eyes.
He slid the ring on her finger. His beloved Grandmother Lila's ring to give to the woman he loved. He then watched with surprise as she reached back and pulled out a ring from her back pocket.
Looking up as the tears clouded his eyes, Jake stepped in front of Sam, his wife. He wasn't sure if he was Jason Morgan but he knew that this beautiful woman before him was his wife, Samantha.
She looked up startled not only at his close proximity but as the elevator started working and began its ascent. "What are you doing?" Instead of answering her, he slowly raised his hand and swept the piece of hair that had fallen in front of her eyes. She wanted to back away, she wanted him to stop touching her, but for some reason she couldn't. Deeply breathing, almost panting, Sam couldn't explain the feeling that soared through her as she was captured by his hypnotizing blue eyes. She had to stop this, she had to back away but for reason she couldn't explain, she didn't want to. His warm hand cupped her cheek and Sam softly rubbed her face against his palm, following her basic instinct. There was something about him that had drawn her from the beginning and it just became too much to contain.
Caressing her check, Jake leaned in to kiss her soft lips. He wanted to tell her that for some reason he remembered her, he wanted to tell her all that and more, but what if he was wrong. What if he was remembering a time before she was with Jason? The feelings were all there but without explanation he knew that there was no way that he could tell her just yet. He had so many questions and before he told her, he wanted all the answers. He wanted to remember her, he wanted to remember their life together. And if he was Jason Morgan, than her son Danny, was his. But just before their lips met, the elevator doors opened and Sam jumped back away from him.
As the doors opened, Sam jumped away in a panic and looked up to see Carly and Patrick turn to them with identical questioning looks. Not looking back, she took a deep breath and stepped off the elevator. "Sam are you ok?" Patrick asked her. She answered him in a daze. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"Was he bothering you?"
Taking a chance to look up, Sam could almost see a yearning in Jake's eyes and she hoped like hell that she could hide the look in her eyes that mirrored his. "No, no he wasn't bothering me, we just got stuck in the elevator, it's ok." She knew he wanted to ask more and she was happy that she said someone that cared so much. "Is it too late for lunch or do you have to get back to the hospital?" She asked hoping to change the subject.
Letting it go, Patrick looked down at his watch. "I'm sorry, but I have to get back." Patrick saw the acceptance in her eyes but he knew she was disappointed as he was. He pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head. "But, my last surgery is at 4. It shouldn't last long. And if we can find sitters, then I hope that we can move up our date to tonight."
Thankful for the laugh, Sam hugged him back. "Sounds great." She lifted her head and accepted his kiss trying with all her might to put aside what almost happened in the elevator and the man that was standing a few feet away talking to Carly.
"The engineer said that the elevator was fixed and you shouldn't have problems." They both heard Carly. "Sorry about that Sam." With a quick look and a no problem, Patrick led Sam back into the elevator to go down to the lobby.
Staring at the doors even as they closed, Jake was clenching his jaw furious when he saw Patrick kiss her. He needed to remember and he needed to act fast before they took their relationship further. Turning to Carly when he heard her ask him. "What happened in there? For a minute, it looked like you guys were about to kiss."
Looking at his friend, Jake asked. "Can you tell me more about Jason Morgan?"